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MEMORIES 



OF THE 



i INDIANS AND PIONEERS 



REGION OF LOWELL. 



BY CHARLES COWLEY. 



Let not ambition mock their useful toil, 
Their homely joys and destiny obscure. 

Nor grandeur hear, with a disdainful smile. 
The short and simple annals of the poor. 

— Gray's Elegy. 



LOWELL: 

STONE & HUSE, BOOK PEINTERS, 21 CENTKAL STKEET. 

1862. 



>^i^^*^i»i»T^^F^»^^^^^^^r*^T«r*"rT^^^^^^^^» » * » » » ^w^rw^p 



MEMORIES 



0? THB 



INDIANS AND PIONEERS 



07 THB 



REGION OF LOWELL. 



BY CHARLES COWLEX,: " 






Let not ambition mock their useful toil, * 
Their homely joys and destiny obscure, 

Nor grandeur hear, with a disdainful smile. 
The short and simple annals of the poor. 

—Gray's Elegy. 



^■■-Pl 



-^ LOWELL : 

STONE & HUSE» BOOK PRINTEES, 21 CENTBAL STEEET. 

1862. 



di^\ 






V 

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V 

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The following pages contain the substance of an address delivered several times by 
Mr. Cowley, before different local societies in Lowell, and now published in compliance * 
with the request of those who heard it, and in the belief that the history of the Indiana If 
and Pioneers of LoweU can never be barren of interest to those who tread the dust in - 
which «« The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep." . 



r 






INDIAN AND PIONEER MEMORIES. 



When the Merrimack River was dis- 
^ covered by the Sieur de Champlain,* in 

the year 1605, the spot where Lowell now 

stands, was a principal rendezvous of the 
^Fawtucket or Pennacook Indians. This 
1 tribe, or confederation of tribes, was among 

the foremosrin New England, and num- 
rbered several thousand souls. The terri- 
1 tory of this confederacy stretched almost 
^ from the Penobscot to the Connecticut, em- 
'^bracing the whole of New Hampshire, a 
(Atpart of Massachusetts, and a part of Maine. 
, The tribes, or sub-tribes, composing this 

confederacy, lived, when at home, in sepa- 
prate villages, under their several local 
* chiefs. Every good fishing-ground was the 

site of one of these villages, the population 
Tof which ranged from fifty to three hun- 
idred souls. This place, however, attracted 

a more numerous population. It was no 
•unusual spectacle to see thousands of the 
^dusky sons and daughters of the forest en- 
£Camped here in the season of spring, catch- 
ing, with rude siraia.;em, their winter's 

tore of fish. Aside from this periodical 

onfluence of Indians, this region contained 
iwo or more villages of more permanent 
Miihabitants — one at Pawtutket Falls, and 
f-another at Massick or Wameoit Falls. 

V* LOWELL IN INDIAN TIMES. 

L This tf-rritory, indeed, offered as many 

attractions to the lords of the forest as 

'^Lowell now presents, to the lords of the 

faoom. Its alluvial soil possfssed sufficient 

|fertility to yield exc"Ilent crops of Indian 

corn. The hunting-trrounds round about it 

^"abounded with game. The rivers swarmed 

^with many varieties of fish. Sfursreon, 

sTmon, shad an J alewives were caught in 

1 * Les Voyages du Hieur de, Champlain en la N;U- 
' MtlU Prance OccidentaU, edition ol 1632, p. 80. 



their season by canoe-loads. Next to the 
Falls of Amoskeag, the Falls of Pawtuckefc 
were the most noted for fishing facilities on 
the Merrimack River. The centrality and 
accessibility of its geographical position 
also added niuch to the importance of the 
place. The upper Merrimack and the 
Musketaquid or Concord, communicated 
with a vast region of the interior ; while 
the lower Merrimack afforded a safe and 
convenient channel to the seaboard. Here, 
then, were Indian councils held ; here were 
the wise wont to counsel, and the eloquent 
to persuade ; and such decorum was ob- 
served by these braves and sages as would 
do honor to the British or the American 
Senate. " Here was the war-whoop sound- 
ed, and the death-scng sang ; and when 
the tiger strife was over, here curled the 
smoke of peace." 

It would be foreign to my purpose to 
consider whether the Pawtuckets and 
their cognate tribes descended from the 
Scardinavians, the Egyptians, the Phoeni- 
cians, the Hindoos, the Scythians, the 
Chinese, the Japanese, the Islanders of the 
Pacific, the tribes dispersed after the 
building of Babel, or the ten lost tribes of 
Israel. It would be equally foreign to my 
purpose to trace the relationship between 
the Indians of the Merrimack Valley and 
the builders of the mounds of the VV est, the 
architects of the temples of Mexico, the 
carvers of the hieroglyphs of Peru, and 
the founders of the buried cities of Yuca- 
tan. Nor would it accord with my present 
plan to describe their wigwams, their 
canoes, their utensils of wood, bark, stone 
and clay ; their curious implements, carved 
out of turtle-sbells, clam-shHlIfi and bones j 
their primitive modes of cooking, hunting, 
fowling, fishing and farming ; their belts of 



wampum-money; their gewgaw-ornaments, marry till they had attained adult years, 
ingeniously formed from the bones and The men employed themselves in fighting, 
shells of fishes, the claws and horns of hunting, fowling and fishing. The women 
beasts, and the feathers of birds. But a performed all menial services, which were 
few words upon their social usages, their deemed dishonorable by the men. Even 
government, their polygamy and their when they travelled, the men went empty- 
polytheism, will not be out of place, handed, while the women toiled along 

Though destitute of many of those noble with bundles of baggage and basketsfuU 
relationships which soften the heart and of babies at their backs. Yet all agree 
sweeten the intercourae of life, the Indiana that these Indian women were affectionate 
held all the social and private virtues in wives and most devoted mothers, 
equal esteem with us. Their hospitality Polytheists in religion, they paid their 
was unbounded. It was the custom of the devotions to the sun, the moon, Arcturus J' 
Indians in the interior to visit their sea- Orion, Sirius, the Pleiades, and those far- \ 
board allies every summer ; and on these off stars that seemed to weep in pity over ( 
occasions, as Hubbard relates, " they used the lowly lot of the red man. Intimations 
like good fellows to make all common j" of one Infinite Power they also had in the 
the hospitalities thus received being duly holy scriptures of Nature— in the constant ' 
reciprocated on other occasions when the march of the seasons— in the tender forth- 
seaboard Indians vifited their interior puttings of spring— in the ripening heats ^ 
friends. Firm alike in their attachments of summer— in the falling leaves of autumn i 
and resentments, they never forgot a friend —in the thunder, the artillery of heaven, ^ 
and never forgave a foe; yet Gookin com- that boomed over the lonely waste— in *j 
plains, that, like the Cretians of Scripture, the lightning, God's pyrotechnics, whose f 
they were incorrigible liars. They were flashes changed night to day— in the wild, t 
fondof gambling, and sometimes hazarded requiem wail of wintry winds like spirit ! 
and lost all that they had. They were voices whispering in the tree-tops their t 
also fond of violent dancing and bolster- weird and pensive melody— in the deep <fl 
ous revels, which were sometimes pro- moaning of the river's waves rolling down- I 
tracted for a week at a time. ward toward the melancholy main. Some ^' 

Their government was a despotism : but dim conception they also formed, of a ma- V 
in its administration it was popular and terialistic Paradise, like the Paradise fore- i 
paternal; for as the old despotism of shadowed in the Koran. The location of 
France was '* tempered by epigrams," this Indian Heaven was in the far South- V 
and that of Russia by assassination, so west. They had a general belief in the h 
was this Indian despotism mitigated and immortality of the soul, and in the resur- 
mellowed by the recognition of the righu rection, not of mankind only, but of all ^ 
in every citizen to expatriate himself at animated nature. With the bodies of their \ 
his pleasure. But rarely indeed did an dead they buried bows, arrows, war-clubs, / 
Indian desert his natal tribe. To their tomahawks, scalping-knives, spears, and 
honor be it recorded, that in countless other weapons and implements, of supposed V 
instances, in the most desperate emergen- utility in the world to come. 
cies. these Indian braves proved as con- proui the number of human bones ex- 
stant to their chief as the Old Guard of homed within the last twenty years in ^ 
Napoleon, the Continentals of Washington, the territory embraced within the Lowell V 
the Ironsides of Cromwell, or the Tenth Cemetery, it is evident that that spot was 
Legion of Csesar. a favorite burial-place of the Indians long ^ 

Like other tribes, the Pawtuckets were before the waters of the Merrimack had ^ 
addicted to poljgamy; and their matri- murmured in the white man's ear. In 
monial conneciions were dissoluble at the 1858, when the hill which once overlooked 
option of either party ; but none could the Concord was pared down, a large hu- ^ 



man skeleton was found, which was sup- Smith's visit, a regular traffic was opened 

posed to be that of an Indian chief, being ^ith the Indians ; blankets, hatchets, ket- 

carefully embedded in a substance resemb- ties and trinkets being bartered for fish, 

ling charcoal. It was apparently buried fowls, berries, baskets, poultry and furs, 

in a sitting posture, facing the rising sun. Thousands of English, French, Spanish, 

The skull bore indications of fracture with Flemish and Portuguese fishermen cruised 

a tomahawk. Near it was found the skele- annually on the banks of Newfoundland 

ton ofa woman, perhaps the chief 's squaw, and on the fishing-grounds of Cape Cod, 

The Pawtuckets had no priest-hood ; while as yet no settlement existed, save in 
but every village had its powwow. These the visionary's dream. Occasional visits 
powwows answered to the description were received from these fishermen by the 
which the author of the Anatomy of Melan- natives along the shore, 
choly gives of Pythagoras, being " part pestilence and war. 
philosopher, part magician, and part About the year 1614, the Pawtuckets 
witch." They exerted an almost para- became embroiled in a most sanguinary 
mount infiuence in their tribe, as men of war with a tribe in Maine, called the 
intellect always do ; and frequently attain- Tarrantines. This war raged with great 
ed the rank of chiefs. They are believed to fury during three years, and greatly re- 
have possessed some secrets of the healing duced the numbers of all the belligerent 
art, of which the sons of Esculapius must tribes. The process of depopulation was 
still confess their ignorance ; and it is cer- vastly accelerated by an epidemic disease, 
tain they used with great efficacy, many which followed close on the heels of the 
plants, roots and barks which to the phar- war, and continued its ravages for two 
macopoeia of medical science are still un- years. What this pestilence was it is im- 
known. They were also familiar with the possible to determine and fanciful to con- 
modern doctrine of the Water Cure.* jecture. Some writers call it small pox ; 

Such were the people who inhabiteH this ^'^- ^^^^ Webster asserts it to be the 

regi ^n when the De Monts, the Cham- common American plague or yellow fever, 

plains, the Cabots, the Gosnolds, and other ""^'^^ *^^ Puritans deemed it the agent of 

leaders in American discovery, first landed P^^i^ence to prepare the way for the 

on these shores. The first Englishman to ^^°'^° P^°P'^- ^^^""^ '«'"^'" "^"^ '^^^^'^^^ 

whom the existence of the Merrimack be- °^ ^^'^ P'^S"^' ^^^^^^ *^'^ "^ '^^^ *^« "'"" 

came known, was Captain John Smith, *^™« " ^'""^ '" heaps," and that "the 

whose exploits in both hemispheres have ^'"''"S '^^'"^ '° °° ^'^^ *ble to bury the 

mad- his name famous wherever the ^ead." The appearance of the great comet 

Englishlanguageisspoken; who, inl614, °^ ^^^^' by arousing the superstition of 

in an open boat, explored and manped the ^^^ victims, added greatly to the terrors of 

whole coast of New England, from the ^^^ P'«g"«- Thousands of. corpses were 

Penobscot to Cape Cod, and learned of the ^''^^ '« P"'"^^ '" ^^^ wigwams ; hundreds, 

existence of the Merrimack fro.u the In- '"'i'hout burial or shelter, were devoured 

dians.t Within a few years after Captain ^^ ^^^"^^ ^^ beasts and birds of prey; 

and their bones were bleached in the wind 

e For the general history, condition, mfinnors and ^"d SUn. But beyond this the old chroni- 

cu8t..m9or the Indians consult sciionicrait's Aigic des are silent. The plague which deso- 

Eescarches; liubbaid'B, and Palfrey's, Uletory of f & 

N-iw Kn:;iaDd; II iitciiinsori's, and Barry's, of Mtis'ia- lated Athens has been vividly delineated 

cUusetts; Belknap's, of New Hampsliire; Drake's , , , x mi -j-j 

Book of the Indiana; Woo Is Now England's ProBpect bv the masterly pen 01 inuciaides; that of 

Part a. cliHpters l-.'O; Morton's Now Englisli C'a- Tpi^-.-na u,, Tin,>nan',n. tV.Qf ^f T „.« J 

Dam, Book I, chapters 1-20; Gookin, in 1 Matsa.hu- i' lorence, by iSoccacio ; that of London, 

Belts Historical Collections, pp. iu-226; Roger Wii- \^y the incomparable author of Robinson 

liams', in 3 Mass. Hist. Coll., pp. 203-238; Potter's ^ . . . 

History of Manchester, N. U., chap. 4; Y ung'a CrUSOe. But imagination only can dcs- 

CliroDicl(-8 of ['lytnouih and Massachusetts Bay; ., i .,. r_j* i-i 

Force's Historic Tracts, etc. cribe how this Indian pestilence came ; 

t See Smith's Generaii Historie, vol. II. p. I8i, how it spread like fire on a prairie from 



^1 

wigwam to wigwam, and from village to in summer and into fire in winter ; that he f 
village until mneteen-twentieths of all could clothe the dried leaves of autumn ;, 

Narrt "r/p 'r/'' '''°''''^°* '""^ "^*^ *^« *-^« '' «?-?'«-» bring dead ! 
Na gansett Bay had succumbed to its serpents to life; that he could metamor- \ 

Tn^Jr^'TV ''''^'^'^'^'"^'y P'^^^^ ^^°^«^'f i°t°- shining flame, and ^ 

Lir. Tl '''"'"'^''^^'°^'*^'^ '''''' through space like a Connecticut 
Deneatn its stroke ■ „•* u i. • , , 3 

> Witch on a broomstick ; and perform many ' 

" How wolves came with fierce gallop, Other impossible feats. ^! 

To tLr'tTrL°sh o^/c1^p7ahfs!' ■^* ^^** ^^™® Passaconaway became the yj 

And pluck the eyes of kings."* chief of the Pawtucket confederacy, we are 

It is remarkable that Richard Vines and "°* informed ; but he probably attained \ 
other Europeans, whom Sir Fernando '^^^'^^S'"*^ before or soon after the land- y 
Gorges had left to settle on the adjacent '"^ ""^ *^^ Pilgrims at Plymouth; for in 
coast, who lodged in wigwams with' the ^^^^' ^^P^^''^ Christopher Leavitt visited * ' 
Indians during the whole period of this *^'^ neighboring coast, and saw a chief Vj 
plague, did iiot experience "so much as a ^^^"^ ^^ ^^"^ Conway, who was probably ^j 
headache" all the time. When the pio- ""'^^ other than Passaconaway. Within 
neers of civilization penetrated the country * ^^"^ ^^'"^^ ^^'^^' ^^P'^'° Leaviit's visit, we t i 
in after years, they found skeletons of the ^"'^ numerous ieferences to this chief in , 
victims by hundreds. Thomas Morton ^^°^'°°' Wood, Dudley, and other writers 
says, the country seemed to him " a new- ^^*^^ ^^^'^ colonial age. 
found Golgotha."! On the seventeenth of May, 1629, Pas- / 

The first Merrimack River Indian, of ^^^^^^"^^y conveyed to John Wheelwright \\ 
whom history has preserved any account, ^^^ ^^'^ ^^"^ '^'"^ between the Piscataqua 
was a chief, famous in his day, who bore ^"'^ ^^^ Merrimack, by a deed which is ' 
the name of Passaconaway, or Papassacon- s»ll pr^-served in the office of the Secre- V 
away, which means '-the child of the ^^^^ °^ ^'^*^" ^^^ '^^^'^ bears, beside ^ 
bear." He was regardt d by all who ^^^ ™^'^ °^ Passaconaway, the marks of 
knew him as a man of decided capacity, ^^^^'^^ ^°'-^' chiefs, who acknowledged h 
and had the saga-ity to perceive that to ^'^^S'**"^® *° ^^"^ ' ^^'^ among these was y 
contead with the Eiiglish would be suicide, -^"""^^i*' who, as is supposed, was at 
He first became famous among his tribe *"^* ''""^ ^^^ ^"^^^ ^^^^^ "^ ^^'"'^ ^* ^^"^ ^ 
as a powwow; in oiher words, he was a ^°''^"- P^s^saconaway had other places ^ 
prestidigitateur, conjurer and magician, °^ r^^ndezvous besides Pawtuckec : one at . 
" parson, fiddler and physician." If the "^""^^'^'^^g ^'^l''^' "O"' ^^^^''^hester ; anotb- 
reports which William Wood received ^^ ^* Pennacoc k Island, now Sewall's 18- ¥ 
from the Indians can be relied on Passa- '^°*^' ^" Concord ; am sail others on dif- y, 
conaway's feats of presiidigitation surpass- ^^^^^^ islands in the Merrimack River, 
ed even those of our celebrafed contemno- ^ ^'^^'^ understanding seems to have ex- ^ 
rary. Monsieur H^^^lann. It is said he ^^^^'^ between Passaconaway and the white y, 
could make the rocks movf! and the trees settlers from the first. I.. 1632, two years 
dance ; that he could turn water into ice ^^*^'' *^^ settlement of the Colony of Mas- 

sachusetts Bay, ihis chi.-f captured and )^ 

oMacaulaya Lays of Ancient Pome. dehvered to Governor Winth.rop for pun- u 

coLuU 'm:Z^:'STmS::^ foln'sTT'- ^^*^'"^"*' ^" ^^'^'^^^ ^^o had kUled an Eng- * 
^^rSr^r!:i^^':^^SJ^TtZ.^^'\£ ^"^''"'^^^- ''*^" ^^^"^^"^ th,s,i„..ep- i^ 
l^ntKB^a^sSTol 2"''^°'^ °'" ^^''''''"^ tember, 1642, the colonial authorities, ^ 

This plague bore a" striking: resntiiblance to that ^^^''^^'^ *^'y the report of an Indian con- 
:^^r2^-n:S^:'S^;^'^^^^^^^^ ^piracy in Connecticut, for the massacre ^ 
'' ^'^^- ' of the -white settlers, sent forty armed men i 



V 



to disarm Passaconaway and his tribe, — 
They failed to find Passaconaway ; but 
found and arrested his son Wannalancet, 
together with his squaw and child. Wan- 
nalancet contrived to escape ; but his 
squaw and child were hurried off to Bos- 
ton as prisoners. An outrage like this 
could not fail to arouse the resentment of 
any man of spirit ; but such was the mod- 
eration of Passaconaway, he accepted an 
apology for these proceedings, which the 
colonial authorities declared were unau- 
thorized ; and soon afterward, when the 
prisoners had been returned to him, he 
sent his son and delivered up all his guns 
to the colonial governor. 

In the first years of the history of the 
colonies, the Indians were treated, in some 
measure, as independent nations ; but in 
1644, the settlers proceeded by diplomacy 
to reduce the various chiefs to the rank of 
petty local magistrates under colonial 
authority. The year before this project 
was attempted, the Colony was divided in- 
to counties. At that time, namely, in 
1643, Middlesex County contained eight 
towns, viz : — Charlestown, Cambridge. 
Watertown, Sudbury, Concord, Woburn, 
Medford and Reading. Among the first 
that submitted to this arrangement was 
the chief of the Pawtuckets. The instru- 
ment of submission bearing Passacona- 
way's mark, and also the mark of his son, 
Nahnanacommock, the local chief of the 
Wauchusetts, is still preserved among the 
archives in the office of the Secretary of 
the Commonwealth, though two centuries 
have rolled by since all who assisted at its 
execution passed to the Silent Land. As 
this is the oldest document in existence 
relating to the region of Lowell, it is 
proper to introduce it here, in full. 

INDIAN TREATY. 

At a generall Court held at Boston the 12 
day of the ffourth moneth [JuneJ 1644. 
Papassaconaway, Nahnancommock, did vol- 
uutarilie submitt themselues to us, as appear- 
eth by their Couenant subscribeaby their owne 
hands heere loUowing & other articles to wch 
they consented. We haue & doe by theise 
prsents voluntarily & wthout any constraint or 
psusaion, but of or owne free motion put or- 
ielues, or subiects Lands & estates vnder the 
Gouermt and Jurisdiction of the Massachusetts 



to be gouerned aud protected by them, accord- 
ing to their Just Lawes and orders so farre as 
we shall be made capable of vnderstanding 
them. And we doe promise for orselues ■% all 
or subiects & all or posteritieto be true & faith- 
full to the said Gourmt & ayding to the main- 
tenance thereof to or best abilitie, And from 
tyme to tyme to giue speedy notice of any con- 
spiracie attempt or evill intention of any wch 
we shall know or heare of against the same & 
we doe pmise to be willing from tyme to tyme 
to be instructed in the knowledge & worship of 
God. In witnes whereof wee haue heerevnto 
put or hands the day & yeare aboue written.* 

On the part of the Indians every stipu- 
lation in this instrument was faithfully 
kept and performed. Would that th« 
same praise could be awarded to the whites. 
History must weep to relate that, within 
twenty years from the day of this treaty of 
submission, Passaconaway was reduced to 
the condition of a pauper, a stranger in 
the land of his fathers, dependent for his 
subsistence on the cold charity of those 
who had dispossessed him of his native soil. 

Before the close of the year 1644, a 
number of other chiefs submitted to the 
colonial jurisdiction, and consented to re- 
ceive missionaries among them to teach 
their children. On the thirteenth of No- 
vember of that year, an order was passed 
by the General Court, instructing the 
County Courts to provide " that the Indians 
residing in the several shires should be 
civilized and instructed in the knowledge 
and worship of God." Though this first 
step toward the Christianizafion of the 
Indians was not taken until a quarter of a 
century after the landing at Plymouth, the 
object aimed at had been kept more or less 
steadily in view from the first. As early as 
1625, we find the Rev. William Morrell re- 
returning to England and invoking the 
King, and all the " Holy Aarons" of the 
British hierarchy, to engage in the propa- 
gation of Christianity among the red men. 
But the missionary operations of the settlers 
were necessarily postponed until they had 
felled the forests, broke up the fallow 
ground, built houses and barns, enclosed 
corn-fields, fortified themselves against 
famine, established churches and schools 

«See M.'.BBachuBetts Archives. toI. 30, page 3' Wln- 
throp'a Journal, (Savages' Edition,) vol, 2, pp. 166 
214« 



8 



Vi 



Instituted a government of laws, informed m full in works to which access is easy, it 
themselves respecting the country, and pro- is unnecessary to relate them here.* Thei 
vided for their own safety and subsistence, pages which record the labors of this greatf 
To do all this in a quarter of a century Apostle of the Indians, are. indeed, the' 
was doing well. And before this had been brightest pages in our colonial history. In« 
done, came the Antinomian controversy of its ordinary features, the Puritanism of,- 
Anne Hutchinson, and the Pequot War, that day was sour, austere, uncouth, rugged 
which occasioned a further adjournment and grim ; but the softening radiance of 
of missionary enterprise. celestial light that played over the Puritan- j 

Various preliminary notes were sounded ^^^ ^^ t^^ sainted Eliot, gave it a beauty 
on the Gospel trumpet, but nothing of that was not born of earth, and that can' 
moment was accomplished till 1646, when never fade away. i 

the General Court passed an order request- ^liot had taken pains to learn the Indian 
ing the elders of the several churches to language, even before the passage of the 
consider what should be done for the dif- order to which reference has been made, ' 
fusion of Christianity among the Indians. ^^^ ^^^ ^^^ fi'^st to enter upon the mis-;, 
This order met with a prompt response, sionary work. On the twenty-eighth of 
Eliot, Cotton, Thatcher, and the two May- October, 1646, after proper notice of his' 
hews, girded themselves to the work with design, he proceeded, with three friends^i 
that apostolic heroism and that holy ardor *" "^^' ^^ °ow Newton Corner; and then, 
which have made their names blessed ^^'^ there was the Puritan interpretation 
forevermore. But on this occasion it is of the Gospel of Christ for the first time, > 
only with Eliot that we are concerned.* preached to the red men of America.^ 

Encouraged by the success of this first 
effort, Eliot, a fortnight afterward, preach- ' 
John Eliot— whom Edward Everett so ed again at the same place; and found, 
justly eulogises as one of the noblest spirits that he could make himself tolerably well 
that have walked the earth since the days understood without the aid of an inter-' 
of the Apostle Paul— was born in Essex- preter. Not satisfied with what he was* 
shire, England, in 1604. He was educated accomplishing among the Indians whom he 
at Cambridge, and was for some time usher gathered at Nonantum, he soon extended 
to Hooker, the author of the celebrated his ministrations to other places more re- ' 
work on Ecclesiastical Polity, at his gram- mote until the whole colony from CapOj. 
mar-school near Chelmsford — the town Cod to the Connecticut had been conse- 
from which our neighboring town of crated by his labors of love— his zeal being ^* 
Chelmsford took its name. In 1613, he continually quickened by his belief that he U 
came to Massachusetts, and settled at West saw, in the dusky faces that shone under 
Eoxbury, where he became pastor of the his preaching, the descendants of the ten^ 
same church of which he had been pastor lost tribes of ancient Israel. ^ 
in England. Notwithstanding his accumu- On the twenty-sixth of May, 1647, the •^ 
lated labors as an author and a missionary. General Court established monthly courts 
he retained his pastoral charge at West in those villages which were visited by El-^ 
Koxbury until his death, which occurred iot or the other Indian missionaries; andi 
on the twentieth of May, 1690. the chiefs were constituted judges, for the 
The events of Eliot's life being narrated trial of petty causes, both civil and crimi- 
nal ; their powers being substantially the I 

• For an account of the eflbrts for the conversion of same as those of justices of the peace. — j 
the Indians, between 1647 and 1655. consult the tracts »_ j^m:„ „„„* u i i i. i.i- l 

in 24 Mass. Hist. Collections; Gookin, in 1 Mass. ^^ Indian constabulary was also establish- 

HiBt. Coll.; Hutchinson's History of Mass., vol. 2, - I 

p. 161; 3 Mass. Hist. Coll.; Palfrey's History of New • See Mather's Magnalia; Francis', and Moore's, Life 

England, vol. 2; Francis' Life of Eliot; 2 Mass. Ee- of Eliot; Young's Onronieleg of Mass. Bay, p. 365, 1 

cordB, etc. note, etc. 



' ed, to serve warrants and summonses, 
a and execute generally the orders and judg- 
ments of these Indian courts. Once in 
"^ three months, one of the magistrates of the 
i«. colony visited each of these villages, and, 
in connection with the local Indianjudges 

■ held what may be called a county court 

* for the Indians, These colonial and In- 
^ dian magiatrates also led the way in the 
" general civilization of the people over 

* whom they had the charge. 

^ Nor did they labor altogether in vain. 
(^ Gradually, the Indians under their super- 
' intendence shook off that habit of indo- 
"^ lence which had become second nature, 
\ and applied themselves to agricultural pur- 
suits. Bear-skins were laid aside, and 
clothes like those of the whites generally 
^ assumed. It was soon noticed that they 
» lived in better wigwams than their neigh- 
bors, and were solicitous that their chil- 
^ dren should be educated like the children 
% of the whites. 

In 1647, or possibly in 1646, Eliot, after 
preaching at Concord, made his first visit 

* to this place, accompanied by Captain 
'^ Simon Willard, and other friends, of both 

races. At that time, Passaconaway, sus- 
^ pecting him of hostile designs, left the 
L place, with his two sons, and would not see 
, hiai. Eliot's second visit to this spot 

was in the sying of 1648, when he found 
^- here a great confluence of the Indians, 
! engaged in fishing, and in wild festivities, 

— reminding him of the fairs in England. 

■ Finding excellent opportunities for his 
I, favorite work, he remained here many 

days, preaching and conversing, now to 
one g'"Oup, and now to another. Passa- 
fc conaway and his sons listened with willing 
, ears to his discourses, and declared them- 
selves deeply impressed with the truth of 
^ his words. Nor was this impression mere- 
ly ly momentary ; for, on visiting this place 
in the following spring, Eliot was press- 
^ ingly importuned by Passaconaway to come 
» and live with the Pawtuckets, and be their 
f^ teacher ; and though, from the multiplicity 
of other cares, Eliot cauld not accede to 
^this proposal, he says: — ''truly my heart 



much yearneth toward them, and I have a 
great desire to make an Indian Towne 
that way." 

It would be scarcely reasonable to sup- 
pose that Eliot left Passaconaway without 
giving him from time to time, some gen- 
eral information touching the tragic scenes 
then being enacted in the far-oiF land of 
his birth — the land about which the Indians 
ever made so many strange inquiries. — 
That would indeed be a most pleasing 
picture, which should exhibit Eliot and 
Passaconaway sitting together upon the 
bank of the bowlder-bottomed Merrimack, 
while Eliot relates the marvelous story — 
how Charles the First and his Parliament 
came into collision — how Strafford and 
Laud, the king's nearest friends, were put 
to death upon the scaffold — how the king's 
armies were routed, the king himself be- 
headed, the order of Bishops abolished, 
the House of Lords compelled to succumb, 
.and the glorious old monarchy of England 
eclipsed in blood ! 

PASSACONAWAY. 

After this we hear no more of Passacon- 
away for about twelve years ; and if there 
be truth in the saying, " Happy are the 
people whose annals are barren," both he 
and his people may be supposed to have 
passed this period in tranquil felicity, and 
in blissful unconsciousness of the trials that 
were in store for them. Before the leaves 
fell from the trees in the autumn of 1660, 
Passaconaway found himself burdened 
with the weight of about four score years. 
His star had long passed the zenith, and 
was sinking rapidly down the sky. His 
eye had become dim, and his natural force 
abated. Time bad furrowed his face with 
wrinkles, and turned his straight, black 
locks to gray. He could not be uncon- 
scious that the time was near when his 
footsteps would be heard no more upon 
his native river-bank — that he was liable 
at any moment to be served with that per- 
emptory summons which no child of mor- 
tality may ever disobey — a summons to 
the great council fire of his fathers in the 
land of shades. He therefore resolved to 



10 

resign the sachemship to his son, Wanna- kept it in lasting remembrance. Some of ' 

lancet, and to pass the remainder of his them, indeed, disregarded it; but by 

life unburdened by the cares of official many of them it was sacredly observed. — ^ 

station. It kept them from joining the coalition of ' 

His abdication was signalized by a grand K:ing Phillip, and thus saved them from , 

banquet,— given possibly here, though the fate which finally befell the partizana 

more probably at Amoskeag Falls, where of that able but unfortunate patriot, 
the stately city of Manchester has since The chief of the Pawtucket or Penna- ^ 

arisen,— which was attended by a vast con- cook Confederacy who succeeded Pasaa- >j 

course of chiefs and braves, and other In- conaway, resided only occasionally here ; 

dians of high and low degree. Feasting most of his time, duriug the first fourteen 

and dancing were the order of the day.— years of his sachemship, being spent far- -j 

Belknap tells us that some white gentle- ther up the valley, at the places already^ 

men of the colony were present by invita- mentioned as the abodes of Passaconaway. 

tion, participating gleefully in all the fes- -fhe local chief of this place, at, this time, )i 

tivities of the occasion. The old warriors was Nobhow or Numphow, who had mar- ^ 

and sages of the tribe reo-aled the audience ried one of Passaconaway's daughters. 
with the triumphant recital of their proud- Two years after his abdication, in May, 

est exploits in battle and in the chase. — 1662, Passaconaway turns up again, in a X 

Finally, in profoiind silence, Passaconaway condition truly pitiable, 

arose, like General Jackson on a similar :< Trained from his tree-rockf d cradle to his bier 

occasion, to deliver his farewell address.— The fierce extremes of good and ill to brook," ^ 

The feelings of this prophet, priest and he now comes before us supplicating the j 

king on meeting his people for the last General Court '' that this honord Courte 

time officially, and their feelings on part- wolde pleas to grante vnto vs a parcell of 

ing with the chief who had led them in the land for a comfortable cituation, to be 

council and in the field, so long, so ably stated for our Injoyment ; as also that this 

and so well, can be better imagined than honord Courte wold pleas to take into yr 

described. From the imperfect remains serious and grave consideration the condi- ' 

of this speech, as preserved by Hubbard, tion and also the request of yrporesup- 

Belknap, and others, we may infer that pliant." In answer to this petition, which 

this far-sighted old Indian statesman had is still preserved among oi^ State Ar- 

a presentiment of the great war between chivesr Passaconaway received a grant of , 

the colonists and the Indians which broke lands which included parts of Manchester, 

out fifteen years afterward, and desolated Londonderry, Liichfield, Merrimack, and 

New England with fire and blood. Among Bedford, in New Hampshire. The lands ■ 

other things, he is reported to have said — were chiefly pine plains ; but they includ- 

• <.!, „oTT ^f oil tTio oartVi • T ^d a good fishing-eround, and probably 
" I am now going the way of ail tne eaitn ; i " & » fa ) f •' 

am ready to die, and not likely to see you ever sufficed for all the wants of the " pore ^ 
met together any more. I will now leave this .: .,•? „„j u; fjenpndpnts Pasai x 

word of counsel with you:— Take heed how you suppUant ana nis aepenuents. rassa- ^i 

quarrel wiih the Eli giish. Hearken to the last conaway did not live long to enjoy his 
words of your father and friend. The white As nothincr morH is hparH nf him ' 

men are the sons of the morning. The Great gi^^nt. As notding more is heard of him 

Spirit is their fatlier. His suu shines bright about from the writers of the dav, it i< supposed 

them. Never make war with them. Sure as ., , . • parthlv ria> s were shnrtlv afrpr 

you light the fires, the breath of heaven will that his eartniy oaj 8 were sdortly atter- ^ 

turn the flame upon you. and destroy you.— ward numliered and finished.* 
Listen to mv advice. It is the last I shall be „ . , -.i, n t i 

allowed to^ive you. Remember it and live." Having now done with Passaconaway, I > 

The solemn counsel of such a chief as '^^ *^« r^^n^U^e of the efi-orts that ^ 
Passaconaway, uttered on so memorable an ,.^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ Passaconaw.y and his so.., Wan- > 

nopftsion was not likely to be soon forgot- nalancet, see the Farmer's Visitor, lor 1852 ; Potters 

occasion, was uui iiij.cij lu i^c =, j. History of Manchester, N. H.; Drake's Book of the j 

ten. Both the new chief and his people indiaas, etc. 



11 



were made to convert and civilize those of 
his tribe who commonly abode at this 
place. The labors of Eliot, here and else- 
where, were cordially seconded by the 
General Court, and especially by General 
Gookin, author of Historical Collections 
of the Indians, published in the first vol- 
ume of the Collections of the Massachusetts 
Historical Society, and of the History of 
the Christian Indians, published in the 
second volume of the Transactions of the 
American Antiquarian Society. Consid- 
ering how ably and how faithfully this 
man labored to improve the condition of 
the Indians of this place, and considering 
the comparitive oblivion to which his mem- 
ory has been consigned, I cannot deny 
myself the pleasure of brushing away the 
dust from his urn ; though I am conscious 
of the probable failure of the attempt. 

GOOKIN. 

Major-General Daniel Gookin was born 
in England, but immigrated early in life 
to Virginia. In 1644, he settled in Cam- 
bridge, where he was chosen captain of a 
military company and a member of the 
house of deputies. In 1652, he was elected 
an assistant in the colonial magistracy, 
and, in 1656, was appointed by the Gener- 
al Court superintendent over all the In- 
dians that had submitted to the allegiance 
of the colony, among whom were the In- 
dians of the region of Lowell. Soon after 
this appointment, he visited England, and 
was received with many marks of attention 
at the court of the Lord Protector, Oliver 
Cromwell, who, having recently conquered 
Jamaica from Spain, desired to remove 
the Massachusetts colonists to that island, 
and sought, but in vain, to enlist Gookin 
in that enterprise. During Gookin's ab- 
sence. Major-General Atherton filled the 
office of Indian superintendent. General 
Atherton dying soon after General Gookin's 
return to Massachusetts, in 1661, Gookin 
was at once reinstated in the superinten- 
dency. He was was made Major-General 
in 1681. He continued in the magistracy 
till the dissolution of the charter in 1686. 
He was at the head of the party which ad- 



hered to the charter. He died in povert j? 
in 1687, leaving a widow and several chil" 
dren. Though a man of some bigotry and 
many prejudices, his understanding was 
cultivated, his integrity inflexible, his pa- 
triotism disinterested and unconquerable, 
his piety exemplary, his religious and po- 
litical principles firm and unchangeable ; 
he was zealous, active and benevolent, and 
a true friend to the Indians, who mourned 
his death with unfeigned sorrow.* 

INDIAN LAWS. 

In this notice of Gookin, I mentioned 
that he was appointed superintendent of 
the Indians that had submitted to the 
English, by an act passed in 1656. This 
act provided that said Gookin do "take 
care that all such Indians do live according, 
to our laws, as far as they are capable;' 
that he "shall constitute and appoint In- 
dian Commissioners in their several plan- 
tations, to hear and determine all such 
matters that do arise among themselves, as 
our magistrates [or Justices of the Peace] 
may do among the English ; with officers 
to execute all commands and warrants as 
marshals and constables." The Indian 
Commissioners here mentioned, were no- 
minated by the Indians themselves, and 
commissioned by Gookirt. And in addi- 
tion to the petty courts of this local native 
magistracy, the same statute provided that 
Gookin, jointly with the local judge of each 
village, "shall havj the power of a county 
court; to hear and determine all causes 
arising among them ; the English magis- 
trate (Gookin) appointing the time and 
place of the court, and consenting to the 
determination and judgment. And all 
other matters beyond their cognizance, 
shall be issued and determined by the 
court of assistants" at Boston. Many other 
laws and orders were passed by the general 
court, with a view to the civilization of 
these Indians, which had important in- 
fluences upon the Indians here. They pro- 
vided among other things that the title to 
the soil should be deemed to have been 



"For a fuller accouDt of Gookin, see 1 Mass Hist. 
ColLpp. 228—230; and Elioti, and Allen's, Biog. Diet. 



12 



V 



vested rightfully in the Indians ; that such 
of theni as acknowledged the colonial juris- 
diction, should retain their lands for towns ; 
that none of them should be dispossessed of 
their cultivated lands, corn-fields or fishing- 
grounds ; that no assignment of land from 
them to any white man should be valid 
unless by license of the court ; that no in- 
toxicating drinks should be sold or given 
to them except in case of sickness ; (but 
in those days, as in our days, prohibitory 
liquor laws proved a poor barrier against 
the force of depraved appetite ;) that none 
should practice as powwows, wizards or 
witches under severe penalties; that all 
these and other laws relative to the Indians 
*' shall be once a year, if the time be safe, 
made known to them by such fit person 
as the general court shall appoint," The 
doctrine of the lawyers, that ignorance of 
the law is no excuse for transgression, 
was not applied to the Indians. 

It was also made the duty of the super- 
intendent, Gookin, to make order and give 
instruction, backed with suitable penalties, 
for promoting morality, industry, good 
manners, and a proper observance of Sun- 
day ; to see that the children attended the 
schools, and all the people the churches ; 
" and to provide that the Indian teachers 
and rulers have some small encouragement 
distributed among them, according to the 
people's ability." This " small encourage- 
ment" was obtained by a tax of one tenth 
of "their yearly increase of all sorts of 
grain and pulse." But Gookin himself 
admits that this custom of tithes savored 
"too much of Judaism and anti-Chris- 
tianism." 

While these efi'orts were being made for 
the improvement of the aborigines, the 
work of settlement was prosecuted with 
great activity and success by the English. 
In 1652, the valley of the Merrimack was 
surveyed by Captain Simon Willard and 
Captain Edward Johnson, as far north as 
the outlet of Lake Winnipisiogee. Its 
rich basins and valuable fishing-stations 
were thus laid open to the eager gaze of 
the great host of adventurers, and the tide 
of white population rolled onward with un- 



:v 



wonted rapidity. As early as 1653, ai 
number of white settlers took up theirx 
abode in this vicinity ; and on the twen- 
ty-ninth of May, 1655, the General Court* 
incorporated the town' of Chelmsford, and|< 
also the town of Billerica, which, until the, 
twenty-third of December, 1734, included' 
what is now Tewksbury. Vif 

WAMESIT RESERVATION. V 

In order that this tide of white settlers^ 
might not disposses the Indians of their^ 
lands here, on which they had erected 
quite substantial wigwams, and some oiki 
which they had enclosed and brought un-\i 
der cultivation, Eliot, in 1653, two 
years before the incorporation of Chelms- 
ford and Billerica, procured the passage oP|i^ 
an act by the General Court, reserving a, 
good part of the land on which Lowell now' 
stands, to the exclusive use of the natives.^ 
This land then contained two Indian vil 
lages — Pawtucket, which lay east of PaW' 
tucket Falls, and Wamesit, which lay east- 
of Massick or Wamesit Falls, in Belvidere.tl 
The village of Pawtucket, however, was,^ 
finally merged in that of Wamesit. The" 
bounds of this Indian reservation were en-y 
larged in 1656 and in 1660. A ditch to. , 
mark these bounds was dug about the year | 
1665. Traces of this ditch may still be'' 
seen. ^ 

Here, as in other Indian towns, super- , 
intended by Eliot and Gookin, the work' 
of Indian civilization went on promisingly V 
for ten years. An extensive traffic grew^j 
up between the whites and the Indians ; 
and in 1657 this traffic was regulated by V 
an act of the Legislature. Major Simon &( 
Willard, and three others, paid twenty- 

■V 

-vi 



I 



five pounds sterling for the exclusive right ' 
to trade with the Indians on the Merri-*-' 
mack River. 

In 1669, Wannalancet and a party of 
Indians from Concord, fearing an attack V 



from the Mohawks, came down the Merri- 



mack in canoes, and built a fort for 
their protection on the hill in Belvidere, * 
which has ever since been called Fort Hill, y 

At .J 



and surrounded it with palisades. 

this the white settlers in the vicinity be- 



13 



ame alarmed, and some of them shut si<ierable numbers at that season. And this 

. . place being an ancient and capital seat of In- 

themselves up m garrison houses. In dians, they come to fish, and this good man 

' 16S0, the strange Indians whose presence takes (his opportunity to spread the net of the 

' ° ^ gospel to fisii for their souls. * 

I created this alarm, united with several ^i^^ magistrate. Numphow, here men- 

, hundred others, incluaing all the more tioned, held his monthly court in a log cab- 

turbuleut and dangerous Indians belong- i^ ^^^^ ^^^ B^^^t Canal. Samuel, the In- 

I inor to this part of New England, in an ex- j- „ . . • ^ j u- . .- 

° . . ^. nr . . , dian teacher, imparted his teachings in a 

',". pedition against the Mohawks, by whom ,„„ „t, „i »u ^ i ;: a i ^ 

• * ^ ' ■' . log chapel near the west end of Appleton 

; they were overpowered, and almost entire- Street. 

P ly destroyed. The wars of the Indians That would be an interesting picture, 

r were generally fought on the principle of which should portray this Indian teach- 

L No-Surrender : and in this single cam- er standing in his rude pulpit preach- 

[ paign, it is said, more than fifty chiefs ing and catechizing, with a zeal out 

1^ were slain. The mild disposition of of all proportion to his knowledge, the 

i« Wannalancet, always peaceably disposed, simple subjects of his pastoral care ; or 

. saved him from the destruction which thus the whole flock crowded around the chapel 



befell so many of his associates. 



to listen to the persuasive words of Eliot 
— their Beecher, their Chapin, their Bishop 
Fitzpatrick. JVIore interesting still would 
be the picture of Judge Numphow, the 
archetype of our Police Judge, sitting 



WAMESIT IN 1674. 

-' Speaking of the Indian village here, 

, in 1674, Gookin says : — 

" It hath about fifteen families, and conse- 
» quently, as we compute, about seventy-five serenely on the bench in his rude cabin, 

souls. [This must mean seventy-five;' praying deciding every case by the law of Moses. 
■« Indians ; the entire population bemo; about - • i 

two hundred and fifty.] The quantity of land beheving the wit of man could make none 
...belongingto itis about twenty-five hundred better. Most pleasing of all would that 

acres. The land is fertile, j'lelding plenty of : 

^ corn. It is excellently accommodalett with a picture be, which should bhow us that 

fishing place ; and theie is taken variety offish „„„..* u„„„^ ,1,„.:„„ ♦!,„ aTo,, *„.,.« f^ i- 
^ in their season, as salmon, shad, lamprey eels, court-house duiing the May term— Gookin 
^ sturaeon. bass, and divers others. There is a sitting as chief justice, with Eliot on his 

great confluence of Indians, that usually resort .,;„i,^ „„j m,..«,k„,.. , u; i„r» i- 

Mo this place in the fishmg season. Of these "S^^' and Numphow on his left-dispen- 

strange Indians, divers arp vicious and wicked sing fines, floggings, and imprisonments, 
• mea and women ; which Satan makes use of to „uu „ ^;o,.«^.„„h r.e f^..^, .u * • i . l 

obstruct the prosperity of religion here. The ^^*^ ^ disregard of forms that might have 
« ruler of this peo;dp is called Numpho.v. He is astonished Sir Matthew Hale and the other 

one of the blood of their chief sachems. Their 



teacher is called Samuel, son to the ruler, 
a young man of good parts, and can speak, read 
and write English and Indian completely. Jde 
is one of those that was bred up d. school at the 
charge of the Corporation for the Indiins. — 
These Indians, if they were diligent andinaus- 
trious — to which they have been frequently ex- 
cited — might get much by their fish, especially 

fresh salmon, which are of esteem and aood . j . -^ - . /. , • 

price at Boston in the season; and the Indians ^"^^ ^'^ "» ^ q""« "«>q"« account of their 

beins; stored with horses of <i low price, might visit in 1674. They arrived hereon the 



" slow coaches " of We3imin8ter Hall.f 

But we are not left to our imagination 
for a view of the circumstances attending 
the annual "visits of Eliot and Gookin to 
this " ancient and capital seat of In- 
dians." The pen of Gookin has transmit- 



furnish the market fully, being at so small 
distance. And divers other sorts of fish ihey 
might salt or pickle, as sturgeon and bass; — 
which would be mach to ttieir profit. But not- 
withstanding divert, arguments used to pur- 
suade them, and some orders made to encour- 
age them ; yet their idleness and improvidence 
doih hitaetto prevail. 

At ihis place, once a year, at the beginning 
of May, the Eugii*h magtstrae [to wit, Gookin 
himself] keeps his court, accompanied with 
Mr. Eliot, the minister; who at this time takes 
his opportunity to preach, not only to the in- 
habitants, but to as many of the strange Indians 
that can be pursuaded to hear him ; of which 
sort, usually in times of peace, there are con- 



evening of the fifth of May ; and the In- 
dians, elated with the news of their arri- 
val, assembled to greet them, in the wig- 
wam of Wannalancet, near Pawtucktit 
Falls. The same evening, Eliot preached 

OGookin'3 His. Coll., Chap. 7. 

fThia joint exerciee of judicial functions by the 
clergy aud the civil ma^'istracy was not so novel a 
thing as may be supposed. By the laws of King Ed- 
gar, the Bishop and thoAlderm;in (or, in his absence 
the Sherilt') of tho County, sat tojieiheriu the Coun- 
ty Court. Vaughan's Revolalii.ns in En{,'li8h 'Usto- 
ry, Tol. 1, p. 22i ; 3 Blackstouo'iiCouiment'irieB, p. 61. 



14 



to them on the Saviour's Parable of the ness, particularly the Mohawks, who per-| 
Marriage of the King's son, being the first petrated upon them continual outrages. — 
fourteen verses of the twenty-second chap- Now, herds of cattle were stolen ; now, ^ 
ter of the Gospel of St. Matthew. Gookin cabins were pillaged ; now, a stray Indian i 
describes Wannalancet as a sober and was caught in the woods and murdered. — 
grave sachem, between fifty and sixty Every atrocity, in short, from the scalping 
years of age. "He hath been always of a man to the robbing of a hen-roost, was V 
loving and friendly to the English. Many practiced upon them with impunity. ^ 

endeavors have been used several years At the time of the conversion of Wan- 
to gain this sachem to embrace the Chris- nalancet, the work of planting Christianity ^ 
tain religion ; but he hath stood off from among the Indians had attained the acme V 
time to time, and not yielded up himself of its success. Thirty years had rolled 
personally, though for four years past he by since Elliot preached his first Indian 
hath been willing to hear the word of God sermon at Newton Corner. During this «. 
preached, and to keep the Sabbath. A period, he had organized fourteen towns, . 
great reason that hath kept him ofi", I con- inhabited by eleven hundred praying In- 
ceive, hath been the indisposition and dians. Dr. Dwight says, the whole num-> 
averseness of sundry of his chief men and ber of Christian Indians in New England, y 
relatives to pray to God ; which he fore- at this time, was "not far from 10,000." 
saw would desert him, in 'ase he turned it was written in the book of Destiny that '^ 
Christian. But at this time [May 6th, 1674] this work should proceed no further. The > 
it pleased God so to influence and overcome trump of war was now to be sounded by 
his heart, that it being proposed to him to the chief of the Pokonokets, and all these " 
give his answer concerning praying to things were to pass away. *" 

God, after some deliberation and serious . 

, . , J 1 u * KING Phillip's war. > 

pause, he stood up, and made a speech to 

this effect : — At the beginning of King Phillip's War, y 

" ' Sirs, you have been pleased for four years in 1675, the white population of New Eng- 
last past, in your abundant love, to apply your- , , . j u \t r) e^ * 

selves particularly unto me and my people, to ^^nd, as computed by xMr. Bancroft, num- 
eshort, press and persuaae u^ to pray to God. bered fifty-five thousand souls; the red » 
I am very thankful to you for your pains. I , i l ^i. 

must acknowldge, 1 have, all my days, used to race was nearly as numerous ; and both ^ 
pass in an old canoe, (alluding to his frequent were about equally expert in the use of 
custom to pass in a canoe up the river.) and „ t. i_ »l ' i ■ ■. r \ 

now you exhort me to change and leave my old firearms .: though the moral superiority of 
canoe, and embark in a new canoe, to which I the whites, coupled with their superior dis- ^ 
have hitherto been unwillins;; but now 1 yield ... ., j - i j , x 

up myself to your advice, and enter into a new cipline, gave them a decided advantage in ^ 
canoe, and do engage to pray to God hereafter.' " the struggle. The tvhite settlements had 

Gookin adds that Wannalancet afterward been so far extended during the previous » 
persevered in his new mode of life, kept fifty years, that the settlers could now 
the Sabbath, and heard the word of God hardly avoid encroaching on the hunting- 
diligently, notwithstanding some of his grounds reserved to the Indians, or prevent ' 
people abandoned him on this account.— their cattle destroying the Indians' corn- •j 
For it is not to be forgotten, that only a ^elds. Nor did they exercise that justice, 
part of the Indians in ihe "praying towns," magnanimity, and forbearance toward their '* 
so called, ever embraced Christianity. The red neigbbors.which might have postponed \ 
rest were corrupted, rather than improved, the impending struggle. And yet, how- 
by contact with the whites ; and Gookin de- ever fairly and however magnanimously 
dares that " excepting their rational souls, they might have dealt, they could not have » 
they were like unto the wild ass's colt, and saved from ultimate extinction the weaker , 
not many degress above the beasts." The race upon whose lands they had settled.— 
whole population suffered from their con- Like the savages ct Australia, like the * 
tiguity to the border savages of the wilder- Hottentots of South Africa, like the na- i 



15 



tives of British India, like the Moors of 

^ Barbary, like the Aztecs of Mexico, the 

islanders of the Pacific, and inferior races 

' everywhere, these Indians could not but 

» melt away like polar ice under a tropical 

sun. The first English axe that rung in 

the primeval forest sounded the red man's 

-- knell. 

The dire collision came — not because 
the Devil was piqued at the prosperity of 
' the New England churches, as good mas- 
» ter Hubbard quaintly suggests — not be- 
cause Phillip was the victim of wrongs 
^ which could only be wiped out in blood — 
•> but rather because Providence willed that 
this great continent should be inhabited by 
a powerful, enlightened and progressive 
■" people, and not by a handful of savages in 
:, stereotyped barbarism. The whites are 
not to be blamed for struggling in defence 
^of their new acquisitions ; neither are the 
,reds to be blamed for contending even un- 
to death in defence of their wild lands and 
wild liberties. Both acted in obedience to 
'the instincts with which God and nature 
^had endowed them. Providence put Phil- 
lip at Mount Hope, as it put Lincoln in 
'the White House, and Napoleon in the 
,Tuilleries. Fighting for as holy a cause as 
tongue ever pleaded or trumpet pro- 
" claimed — 

t " For the ashes of his fathers, 

And the temples of his gods" — 

'he surely deserves the honors of monu- 

. ment and psean. 

" We picture him to ourselves," says Ir- 
Ting of Phillip, in his Sketch-Book ; " we 

^ picture him to ourselves, seated among 

^ his care-worn followers, brooding in si- 
lence over his blasted fortunes, andacquir- 

' ing a savage sublimity from the wildness 

'. and dreariness of his lurking-place. De- 
feated, but not dimayed— crushed to the 
earth, but not humiliated — he seemed to 

' grow more haughty beneath disaster and 
to experience a fierce satisfaction in drain- 
ing the last dregs of bitterness. He was 

■ a patriot attached to his native soil — a 

„ prince true to his subjects, and indignant 
of their wrong-g — a soldier daring in bat- 

^ tie, firm in adversity, patient of fatigue, of 



hunger, of every variety of bodily suffer- 
ing, and ready to perish in the cause he 
had espoused. With heroic qualities and 
bold achievements that would have graced 
a civilized warrior, and have rendered 
him the theme of the poet and the histo- 
rian ; he lived a wanderer and a fugitive 
in his native land, and went down, like a 
lonely bark foundering amid darkness and 
tempest — without a pitying eye to weep 
his fall, or a friendly hand to record his 
struggle." 

Nor should his faithful adherents be 
forgotten. Rather let history ascribe all 
honor to the brave patriots who stood 
round him in his sullen grandeur and des- 
perate struggle with the inevitable. — 
Though abandoned from day to day by 
their allies, though beset by traitors in 
the council and cowards in the field, 
though hunted from swamp to swamp 
like culprits or wild beasts, starving on 
groundnuts and horseflesh, — worn out by 
toil, by famine, by disease, by the hard- 
ships and ravages of war, — with no sleep 
for their eyes or slumber for their eyelids, 
— with but the faintest hope of victory, 
and no thought of renown, — they stood by 
their falling chief with a martyr-like con- 
stancy that has never been surpassed even 
by the brightest of the patriots and he- 
roes whose deeds illustrate the historic 
page. 

It is said that Phillip was forced into this 
war, prematurely, by his younger braves, 
and that he wept bitterly when the bloody 
conflict began ; but the fatal die being 
once cast, he girded himself with alien's 
heart to the work of extirpating the whole 
white race in New England. He made 
peace with his Indian enemies, and labor- 
ed to combine all, the Christian Indians 
not excepted, in a general coalition against 
the English. Neither Pontiac, nor Red 
Jacket, nor Tecumseh, nor Osceola, dis- 
played grander abilities or a more com- 
prehensive statemanship than this Indian 
Hercules. But the work which he attempt- 
ed was such as must have baulked and 
baffled even the Hercules of mythology. 
As the stars in their courses fought against 



16 

Sisera, so did all the powers above now Island and other islands in the harbor.—^ 

combine against Phillip. For he fought Here, exposed to disease, despair, hunger, ., 

the battle of barbarism against civilization ; cold, and every species of hardship s, they ) 

and history, while lamenting his fate, must passed the winter of 1675-6. Many oft 

rejoice that his enterprise failed. them died ; many more lost all confidence.! 

The events of this war — the conference in the colonists. Their habits of honesty, 

and treaty of Phillip and his counsellors sobriety, and industry, were lost ; and ' 

with the colonial magistrates in the old their demoralization was complete. | 

church in Taunton — the infraction of that On the approach of hostilities, seeing 

treaty — the intercession of the Apostle El- himself placed between two fires, and be-' 

lot — the new conference and treaty at ing determined to act a neutral part in the ^ 

Plymouth — the three years' peace — the sanguinary contest, Wannalancet withdrew,., 

treachery and death of Phillip's private with a portion of his people, from the 

secretary, Sausaman — the trial, condem- neighborhood of the white settlers, andU 

nation and execution of his supposed mur- lodged himself at Pennacook. Alarmed aty« 

derers — the uncontrollable violence of his withdrawal, the General Court sent 

Phillip's braves demanding to be led on messengers, in September, 1675, to pur-^ I 

againstthewhites— the burning of Swanzey suaae him to come back. But instead ofy 

—the great fight in Dismal Swamp— the returning, he withdrew, with his people I 

burning of Medford, Sudbury, Marlbo- still further into the wilderness, and pass-*' 

rough, and Lancaster— the killing of Phil- ed the winter of 1675 and 1676 about theH 

lip himself in Skunk Swamp— the thousand headwaters of the Conneciicut, where there. . 

atrocities on both sides— all these are re- was a good supply of moose, deer, bears, 

corded by Hubbard, Mather, Gookin, and other wild beasts. Subsequent events ^ ' 

Church, and Drake, and need only be re- will show that those who remained at^j 

ferred to here. Wamesit would have done wisely to have 

Wannalancet and our Iccal Indians, accompanied Wannalancet to his new win-^ ' 

faithful to the counsel of Passaconaway, ter abode. V f 

gave no heed to the solicitations of Phillip, In September, 1675, shortly after the | 

and never espoused his cause. As the con- opening of the campaign, a hundred armed 

sequence of this, they suffered more during scouts, under Captain Mosely, marched up¥ ' 

this war than any other of Eliot's towns, the Merrimack to Pennacook, where Con- ^ , 

Some of them were put to death by Phillip cord now stands, and where Wannalancet 

forgiving notice of his designs; some were sometimes took up hisabode; and finding "'" 

put to death by the colonists as Phillip's the wigwams and winter stores of the In- ^ 

accomplices ; some fell in battle in behalf dians there deserted, wantonly burned 

of the whites ; while others fell victims to them. About the same time, a haystack 

the undiscriminating hatred of the colo- in Chelmsford, belonging to Lieutenant t 

nial rabble, whose passions, on the slightest James Richardson, was burned by some y 

provocation, or suspicion, broke out with- skulking Indians of Phillip's party. But 

out restraint against the "praying Indians." the inhabitants at once attributed it to the ^ 

The good faith of some of these " pray- Wamesit Indians, though the owner of it y 
jng Indians " being suspected by the Gen- protested that it could not have been set 
eral Court, laws were passed forbidding on fire by them. Hereupon, Count Oakes, 
the natives in the " prating towns " from with a body of troops, was ordered to bring ^ 
going beyond the limits of their several all the Wamesit Indians to Boston. On 
vill?ges, under severe penalties. Not con- the twentieth day of October, he accord- 
tent with these precautions, the General ingly sent word to the General Court that 
Court aiterward caused five hundred he had arrested the Indians of Wamesit — *■ 
Christian Indians, from various places, to about a hundred and forty-five in number 
be carried to Boston, and confined on Deer —and had them with him on the way to 



17 



Boston. Thirty-uree of them were able- 
bodied men, unarmed. The rest were old, 
decrepit men, women, children and infants. 
Many of them were naked, and all desti- 
tute of food. The General Court now or- 
dered all the old men, women and children 
to be returned to their homes. The others 
were carried to Boston, where three of them 
were sold as slaves. The rest after being 
kept for some time in prison in Charles- 
town, were found innocent of setting the 
haystack on fire, (though the House of 
Deputies had passed a vote declaring them 
guilty ;) and they were returned to Wam- 
esit, escorted by Lieutenant Richardson, 
the owner of the property destroyed. 

While on their return home, an incident 
occurred which shows the brutality of 
some of the colonial population. They 
happened to march through Woburn while 
the train-band was exercising ; and Knight, 
one of the campany, deliberately levelled 
his gun, and shot one of the Indians dead. 
For this cold-blooded murder he was in- 
dicted and tried by a jury of his peers, 
but pleaded " that his gun went off by ac- 
cident ;" and as " the witnesses were mealy- 
mouthed in giving evidence," the jury, 
though '* sent out again and again by the 
judges, who were much dissatisfed," base- 
ly returned a verdict of acquittal. 

Not long after this, a barn filled with 
hay and grain, the property of this Lieuten- 
ant Richardson, was burned to the ground. 
The perpetrators of this incendiary act, as 
the proprietor of the barn then thought, 
and as was afterward ascertained, were not 
of the Wamesit Indians, but were parti- 
zans of Phillip. But the scoundrel mob 
of Chelmsford persisted in charging it up- 
on the Indians of Wamesit, and " took the 
law into their own hands.'' On the fif- 
teenth of November, 1675, fourteen armed 
men from Chelmsford came to Wamesit, 
and called the Indians, who were chiefly 
helpless women and children, out of their 
wigwams; but no sooner had they appeared 
than two of the Chelmsford ruffians, named 
Lorgin and Robbins, fiendishly fired upon 
them two charges of buck shot. Five of 
the Indian women and children were 



wounded ; and one of them, a little boy, 
the son of a chief, was killed. The mur- 
derers were subsequently indicted and 
tried for this crime ; but in this, as in the 
other case, the jury were dominated by the 
popular prejudice against the red men. — 
" To the great grief and trouble generally 
of magistracy and ministry, and otherwise 
and godly men," says Gookin, these wan- 
ton murderers were acquitted. 

Fearing a continuance of these outrages, 
Numphow and John a Line, the local 
chiefs of Wamesit, together with the In- 
dian teachers, Samuel Numphow, Simon 
Betokom, and Mystic George, and all the 
Christian Indians then remaining here, fled 
into the wilderness, on their way toward 
the French settlements in Canada, expect- 
ing to find VVannalancet, who, as already 
stated, had previously removed beyond 
the reach of either of the belligerents. 
The authorities at Boston, hearing of their 
departure, sent Lieutenant Henchman of 
Chelmsford, to persuade them to return. 
This they declined to do ; and the letter 
which they sent to Henchman, giving the 
reasons for their declinal, being a good 
specimen of native composition, written 
by Simon Betokom, one of their teachers, 
who had been Eliot's pupil, is deserving 
of insertion here. 

"To Mr. Thomas Henchman, of Chelmsford. 
I, Numphow, and John a Line, we send a mes- 
senger to you again ( ^Vecoposit) with this ans- 
wer, we cannot come home again, we go towards 
the French, we go where Wannalancet is ; the 
reason is, we went away from our home, we had 
help from the Council, but that did not do us 
good, but we had wrong by the English. 2dly. 
Tne reason is we went away from the Englist), 
for when there was any harm done in Chelms- 
ford, they laid it to us, and said we did it, but 
we know ourselves we never did harm to the 
English, but we go away peaceably and quietly. 
3dly. As for the Island, we say there is no safe- 
ty for us, because many English be not good, 
and may be they come to us and kill us, as in the 
other case. We are not sorry for what we leave 
behind, but we are sorry the English have driv- 
en us from our praying to God and from our 
teacher. We did begin to understand a little 
of praying to God. We thank humbly the 
Council. We remember our love to Mr. Hench- 
man and James Richardson."* 

[Signed with the mark of Numphow and John 
Line.l 



»See Gookin'8 History of the Christian Indians, in 
the second volume ol the Transactions of the Ameri- 
can Antiquarian Society, p. 483. 



18 

They failed to find Wannalancet ; and valids were lodged, and burned them all to 
twenty-three days after writing this letter death in one funereal pyre. In this, as in 
to Henchman, worn out with wandering previous cases, the murderers went •' un- 
up and down in the woods in winter, and whipt of justice." The better classes were 
reduced to the last extremity for want of indeed shocked at these atrocities ; but the 
iood, the greater part of them resumed great mass of the colonists seemed to think 
their residence at Wamesit. Three com- it a small matter to kill an Indian in cold 
missioners — Eliot, Gookin and Willard — blood. As we proceed, however, we shall 
were then sent to them to assure them of find the saying terribly true, that '' history 
the good will of the Council, and to create hath its revenges." Whole hecatombs of 
if possible, a more humane feeling toward white lives will yet be sacrificed as a 
them among the people of Chelmsford. — propitiatory offering to appease the manes 
In connection with this mission of peace of those thus barbarously murdered, 
and good-will, a descendant of the last History delights to relate that two holy 
named commissioner — Joseph Willard, and heroic men — Eliot and Gookin — 
Esq., of Boston — in his excellent " Willard struggled manfully to the last in defence 
Memoir," makes the following just re- of these expiring tribes. With an elo- 
mark : — " Harrassed and persecuted as quence inspired from above, they denounc- 
were the Christian Indians, the marvel is ed this barbarous treatment of these un- 
that they did not turn to a man against happy Indians, whom God had made, for 
the English, and manifest those traits of whom Christ had died, and against whom, 
character which are ever so dear to the or most of whom, no man could bring any 
savage nature. If here and there they just accusation. But they received no 
were driven to madness, it was the inevi- thanks from the magistrates, and were in- 
table consequence of their wrongs. Had suited in the streets by the " rascal rabble " 
they been well treated by the Massachusetts of Boston. 

— that is, by the masses, who controlled In their pursuit of their chief, Wanna- 
public sentiment for the hour — they would lancet, the fugitives this time met with 
have been a strong wall of defence to the better success than in their former flight, 
colonists, as those in Connecticut were to They found him^ and joined his party, and 
that Colony. In the spring of 1676, this remained with him till the close of the war» 
was done ; and they rendered effectual aid But before they found him they experienced 
in bringing the war to a close." all the horrors of a French retreat from 

The woes of theWamesit Indians were not Moscow. Their chief, Numphow, and 
ended even here, though Lieutenant Tho- Mystic George, one of their teachers, and 
mas Henchman was appointed as their guar- various other men, women and children,, 
dian. On the fifth oi February, 1676, we perished in the woods ot hunger, cold and 
find them petitioning to be removed from fatigue. Even after being thus driven in- 
Wamesit, giving as a reason that, in all to the wilderness by the barbarities of the 
probability, " other Indians would come colonists, Wannalancet still proved him- 
and do mischief shortly, and it would be self the white man's friend, always sending 
imputed to them, and they would su8er notice to the colonial authorities when he 
for it." Finding this petition disregarded, heard of the approach of their enemies. — 
and themselves in imminent danger, they But I must now leave Wannalancet and ' 
again fled in terror toward Canada ; but his people in the woods, while I record 
they left behind them six or seven aged what befell the white settlers of the region 
persons who were blind and lame, and too to which our narrative relates, 
infirm to be removed. History weeps to In August, 1675, shortly after the open- 
relate that the cowardly villains of Chelms- ing of the contest, the house of Lieutenant 
ford came to Wamesit by night, set fire Henchman, in Chelmsford, was fortified 
to the wigwams in which these helpless in- with a garrison, and so continued for 



19 

several months. About the same time, the (May, 1676), intelligence of the approach 
forty-eight families which then constituted of the enemy Having been receivedj an 
the population of Billerica (including additional force was placed in this fort, and 
Tewksbury) were, by order of the Council, Captain Henchman took command. This 
•gathered into twelve garrisons for safety ; proved an effectual check to the incur- 
but John Farmer, the historian of Biller- sions of Phillip's party. In the -following 
ica, states that that town received no August, Phillip being slain in Skunk 
essential injury during this war; though Swamp, the war closed, the settlers re- 
the people were harrassed with visits from sumed their customary avocations, and the 
the partisans of Phillip, as were also the tide of population rolled on with new 
people of Dracut and Chelmsford. Two vigor. 

sons of Samuel Varnum, ancestor of Gen- ^^efore passing from this war, it may not 

eral Varnum— who was four years Speaker be amiss to sum up briefly its results. The 

of the National House of Representatives, loss of life on the part of the Indians is un- 

and once President fro tempore of the known ; but it was doubtless much greater 

Senate, and whose remains now rest in than that of the colonists. The military 

peace on the banks of the murmuring operations of the whites involved the ex- 

Merrimack in Dracut— were shot while penditure of five hundred thousand dollars, 

crossing the river in a boat, Six hundred colonists were killed. Thir- 

On the third of February, 1676, some of teen towns, containing six hundred houses, 

Phillip's partizans attacked Chelmsford, were destroyed by fire. Both races took 

and burned several buildings. Colburn's a savage delight in compelling their 

garrison on the east side of the Merri- enemies, in the language of Sir Walter 

mack was now strengthened, and nearly Scott, " to taste of the tortures which an- 

all the outer settlements were deserted, ticipate hell," and exhausted their inge- 

A second attack was made on the twentieth nuity in devising new modes of protract- 

of March, and Joseph Parker was wounded, ing ^^^ agonies of their captives. On the 

Other depredations were also committed o°e hand, a crew of savages tied a white 

in the region round about. captive to a stake, bit off his nails, tore 

On the nineteenth of April, 1676,— a out his hair by the roots, pulled out his 

day signalized since by the memorable tongue, gouged out his eyes, cut out pieces 

conflicts of Lexington and Baltimore,— of his flesh and threw them into the fire, 

Captain Samuel Hunting and Lieutenant compelled him to run the gauntlet of their 

James Richardson, were ordered by the tomahawks, clubs and knives, and finally 

Governor and Council, with all dispatch, roasted him to death by a slow fire. On 

to lake command of a party of English and the other hand, it must be remembered, 

friendly Indians, march to Pawtucket Falls, t^ie colonists, when Phillip was slain, de- 

and erect fortifications against the allies ^ied his body the decency of a burial, but 

of Phillip. Their instructions were as fol- cut oft' his head and uore it in triumph 

lows :— " If you meet wh the enimy you through the colony on a pole ; and even 

are to use yor bi-st skill & utmost endeuer seized his only son, a guileless boy of nine 

to slaye, kill & destroy ym. * * * You years, shipped him to the Bermuda Islands, 

.are wh all care to Gouvern the soldiers and sold him as a slave. Men that are 

under yr command according to the Rules dogs may strike a balance in favor of 

of God's word & the wholesome laws of the which party they please ; men that are 

country & take care to punish all profanes 

p . , , "For original authorities touching King Phillip's 

.•& WlCKednes. T^V^ar, see lluhbard's Indian Wars; Iiiorcase Matlier's 

A fort was aronrdint^lv Viiiiif- at Patv ^rict Uiatory; Church's History of Kin^ Puillip's 

A lort was accorumgiy OUUt at law- -\Y.,r; Mather's Masmlia, vol. 2, pp iSS-lfly; C^illon- 

tucket Falls, commanded by Lieutenant dur's Iliatorical Discourse, pp. 120-136; Gnihime's 

' r ., • "'•"'" " Hist. U.S., vol. 1. pp. 0-1(5-3.51; GooKlu's History of 

Richardson. In the following month, OhrisUau Indians, 2 Am. Ant. Soc. Coll. See also, 

Dralio's History of Boston, and hia Book of the In- 

"Mass. Archives, vol. 68, p. 212.; diaua.; Barry's History of Massachusetts, etc. 



20 

men will pronounce the conduct of both people were placed under the guardianship 

parties superlatively execrable. of Colonel Jonathan Tyng of Dunstable, 

who received twenty pounds sterling per 

WANNALANCET. . , • ^_ ■, i , 

annum tor keeping them ; and lands were 
Wannalancet and the Wamesit Indians, given to them on Wickasauke Island. The ■ 
whom we left in the northern wilderness, number thus placed at Wickasauke Falls 
kept wisely aloof from the contest until the was about ten men and fifty women and 
return of peace. Their final return was children ; fifteen men and fifty women and 
accomplished by intrigue. Major Waldron^ children having been removed elsewhere 
who then commanded a military force at and " bound out to service;" — a most un- 
Dover, New Hanapshire, contrivftd by grateful requital for their steadfast friend- 
diplomatic persuasion, to lure the Indians, ship to the colonists. Calling one day on 
far and near, to the number of four hun- the Rev. Mr. Fiske, the minister in Chelms- 
dred, to engage with him in a general ford, Wannalancet kindly inquired about 
military muster. While perfoiming their all his old acquaintances, and particularly 
evolutions, they were all suddenly sur- whether that town had suffered much 
rounded and taken as prisoners of war. during the late war. Mr. Fiske replied 
Two hundred of them, some of whom that the people there had not suflfered 
were as innocent of hostile acts or designs much, but had been highly favored, and 
against the colonists as babes unlorn, were he thanked God for it. " Me, next," re- 
shipped to the West Indies, and in spite plied Wannalancet, referring to his own 
of the solemn remonstrance of the Apostle kind offices in defense of his white neigh- 
Eliot, sold into perpetual slavery. Among bors, notwithstanding they had been his 
those thus trepanned by Waldron was the persecutors, 

gentle Wannalancet, with his tribe. A Nor did the kind offices of Wannalancet 
number of them were falsely accused of terminate even here. In March, 1677, 
having borne arms against the colonists ; during the war between the French and 
some of these were sent off and sold as English, he called on Captain Henchman 
slaves with other Indian captives, and the in Chelmsford, informed him that the Mo- 
rest of the accused were publicly executed hawks, who were in league with the French 
at Boston. Even one of the sons of Nurap- against the English colonists, were up the 
how barely escaped the gallows. river at Souhegan, and warned the Cap- 
On his return from the wilderness, Wan- tain to be on his guard. By order of the 
nalancet brought with him seven white Council, Lieutenant Richardson traversed 
captives — Phillip Eastman, and the wife the whole valley during the following sea- 
and five children of Thomas Kimball, of son, with a scouting party, to ward off 
Bradford — who had been captured by some attack. 

of the adherents of Phillip — whom Wanna- In September, 1677, Wannalancet re- 
lancet's good offices had saved fr^m death, ceived a visit from a party of the St. Fran- 
even after they had been condemned, and cis Indians from Canada, accompanied by 
the fires twice prepared to burn them, one of his brothers, who urged him to unite 
This return of good for evil, kindness for with them. He finally yielded to their 
cruelty, was the only revenge which Wan- solicitations, and with nearly all the In- 
nalancet ever inflicted on his persecutors, dians then residing here, about fifiy in 

Wannalancet, with the remains of his number, bade a final adieu to Wamesit. 
broken tribe, now returned to his abode In July, 1678, the treaty of Nimeguen 
at Wamesit ; but he never afterward felt being concluded between Charles the Sec- 
reconciled here ; for his corn-fields had ond and Louis the Fourteenth, hostilities 
been seized by the white settlers, and the ceased, and the white settlers left their 
whole aspect of his affairs was changed, garrison houses and resumed their former 
By order of the General Court, he and his abodes. The dwellers on the Merrimack 



i.1 



21 



slept under the security of that treaty aa 
calmly as the dwellers on the Thames or 
the Seine. 

Wannalancet soon regretted the facility 
with which he had yielded to the solicita- 
tions of his French-Canadian friends. He 
returned to Pennacook, and in September, 
1685, received a grant of ten pounds ster- 
ling from the Massachusetts General Court. 
In 1686, Wannalancet and the Indians re- 
maining at Wamesit, Pawtucket, Nashua, 
Concord, Groton, Lancaster, Stow, and 
Dunstable, sold all their lands in those 
places to Jonathan Tyng and others, and 
retired to the fast-receding forests of the 
North and North-East.* Their final depar- 
ture must have presented a scene not dis- 
similar to that pictured by Goldsmith in 
his " Deserted Village :" — 

" Good Heavens ! what Borrows gloomed that parting 
day 
That called them from their native walks away," 
etc. 

In 1688 came the English Revolution, 
the dethronement of the Stuart Dynasty, 
and the accession of William, Prince of 
Orange. The New England Colonists, 
rising against their Governor, Sir Edmund 
Andros, warmly espoused the cause of 
•' the immortal Deliverer." In the follow- 
ing year came King William's War; 
France and her Colonies supporting the 
dethroned King James ; while the English 
Colonies, prompted alike by principle and 
by self-interest, fought on the side of King 
William. This conflict lasted nine years, 
and was closed by the treaty of Ryswick 
in 1798. The general events of this war, 
from its commencement to its brilliant 
termination, have been narrated in lull by 
the masterly pen of Lord Macaulay, and 
need no recital here. 

The nine years of this war were years 
of terror to the people of this region and 
of all the border settlements of New Eng- 
land. To prevent the settlers from sur- 
rendering to their fears, in March, 1694, 
the General Court enacted that if any 
person, having an estate of freehold in 
Chelmsford, Dunstable, and sundry other 



• See Bentiej's History of Salem. 



frontier towns, should desert the same 
during the war, such estate should be for- 
feited ; and that if any male inhabitant of 
either of said towns, above sixteen years 
of age, should desert such town, he should 
forfeit the sum of ten pounds.* 

The Indians of the region of Canada, 
excited by the Jesuits in league with the 
French, made continual attacks on the 
colonists of the frontiers. Forts and forti- 
fied bouses were again the retreats of all 
such as could get into them. Garrisons 
were established in Amesbury, Haverhill, 
Billerica (including Tewksbury), Chelms- 
ford, Dunstable, Groton. and Marlbo- 
rough.t 

The fort at Fawtucket Falls was occupied 
by a garrison commanded by Major Hench- 
man ; and mounted scouts were employed 
to scour the frontiers, and ward off" attack. 
But this did not entirely save them. On 
the first of August, 1692, the Indians in 
league with the French in Canada, at- 
tacked Billerica, and killed eight of the 
inhabitants — Mrs. Ann Shed and two 
daughters, Mrs. Joanna Dutton and two 
daughters, and two others. On the fifth 
of August, 1695, tbey visited that part of 
Billerica which is now Tewksbury, and 
killed Mr. John Rogers and fourteen oth- 
ers. These attacks were planned with 
great secrecy and skill. It was always 
when the danger of assault seemed the 
least, that the foe, with stealthy step, ac- 
tually appeared, to execute the work of 
death. Colonel Joseph Lynde, of Charles- 
town, with three hundred armed men, 
horse and foot, ranged all the swamps and 
woods of Andover, Chelmsford and Bil- 
lerica, but found no trace of the foe. The 
hill in Belvidere called Lynde's Hill, de- 
rives its name from this Colonel Lynde, 
having been fortified and occupied for 
some time by him and his command. 

We hear nothing of Wannalancet alter 
the sale of lands before mentioned, till 
1697 and 1698, at the close of King Wil- 
liam's War, when he turns up for the last 
time, under the guardianship of Colonel 

e See MaBB. ArchivoB, vol, 70, pp. 240—242, 

t Ibid, p. 2fil, , 



22 



Tyng. After this, we bear of him no more. 
Wandering, a stranger — if not also a prison- 
er — among the haunts of his infancy, and 
over the graves of his fathers, with the 
impress of hope long deferred stamped in 
deep furrows upon his brow, the sighing 
breezes of heaven, and the multitudinous 
voices of the river's waves, must have 
filled him with sad and pensive memories, 
falling upon his ear like voices from the 
spirit-land. That he lingered so long 
around the graves of his fathers, shows 
that it would have pleased him to be laid 
at their feet at last, and to mingle his own 
dust with theirs. But this was not to be. 
It is believed by all who have made Indian 
history their study, that, dissatisfied with 
his strange life here, he finally retired to 
the St, Francis tribe, and ended his days 
with them. The chief glory of his life 
was to be a true Christian, and to be ever 
the white man's friend. His renunciation 
of the rude creed of his childhood, and 
his refusal to join the coalition of King 
Phillip, lost him a majority of the old 
Pawtucket or Pennacook Confederacy, 
which chose his nephew, the brave and 
wary Kancamagus, or John Hogkins, as 
their chief, — he being in full sympathy with 
the young and warlike spirits of the 
tribe. 

The portion of the tribe which followed 
Kancamagus, took part in all the wars of 
this period. On the night of the twenty- 
seventh of June, 1689, they attacked Do- 
ver, New Hampshire, put the commander, 
Waldron, to death with the most protract- 
ed tortures, burned six houses and the 
mills of the settlement, and captured and 
killed fifty-two men, women and children. 
They afterward became merged with the 
Androscoggin tribe in JVIaine, as those 
who adhered to Wannalancet became 
merged with the St. Francis tribe in 
Canada. 

The Apostle Eliot did not live to see the 
end of this war, but passed to the world 
which had been the theme of his dis- 
courses, in 1690. He had the mortification 
to see the labors of more than forty years 
terminate iu failure. He lived to witness 



the fourteen Christian towns which he had 
organized, reduced first to seven, and af- 
terward to four ; and even these were not 
long to survive. Much of his time toward 
the close of his life was spent in promoting 
education among the negroes, many of 
whom were now living in the colony as 
slaves. In his old age, he was compared 
to Homer's Nestor, whose lips dropped 
manna sweeter than honey ; and his bi- 
ographers point out many beautiful corres- 
pondences between him and John, " the 
disciple whom Jesus loved." 

But while history must accord to Eliot 
the highest honors as a philanthropist, a 
saint, and an apostle, it cannot withhold 
the confession that, when compared with 
the missionary achievements of the Jesu- 
its, the efi'oris of Eliot sink into almost 
perfect insignificance. About all that 
now remains to remind us of the labors of 
Eliot and his compeers, are a few copies 
of his Bible and other Indian books, as 
unintelligible as the inscriptions on the 
obelisk ot Luxor. The works of the Jesu- 
it fathers, on the other hand, are visible 
from the tropics to the poles. There is 
not a tribe on the whole continent, from 
Newfoundland to the Aleutian Islands, 
which has not furnished converts to the So- 
ciety of Jesus. We Protestants may re- 
gret it ; we may dislike to confess it ; but 
the fact is incontestable, that as a mission- 
ary or proselyting church, the Homan 
Catholic Church ranks far superior to any 
of the heretical churches that have sprung 
from her prolific loins. 

Nor is it ditficuit to account for this. 
The Protestant labored mainly to elevate 
the savage to the plane of his own civili- 
zation — a task in itself impossible. The 
religion which he presented consisted in 
abstract ideas and dogmas hard to be- 
lieve and impossible to understand. — 
The Jesuits, on the contrary, talked lit- 
tle of dogma, made nothing of abstrac- 
tions, and adopted, to a great extent, 
the Indian modes of thought and life. 
They initiated their simple minded re- 
cruits into the mysteries of their elabo- 
rate and beautiful symbolism; they chant- 



23 



ed in their ears Te Deum Laudamus, 
hymns to Mary, and all those glorious 
soul-stirring anthems which grew like blos- 
soms out of the piety of the Catholic 
Church of the early ages ; and the hearts 
of their converts throbbed and melted un- 
der the tones of this divine music ; they 
saw the Jesuits bow down before the host 
and kiss the crucifix, and they bowed 
down before the host and kissed the cru- 
cifix too. Thus almost unconsciously, 
they caught the spirit of the new faith, 
and became, with their children, willing 
subjects for the baptism without which, 
they were assured, they must perish ever- 
lastingly. 

REVENGES OF HISTORY. 

The remainder of our narrative is chief- 
ly a record of bloody revenges. We have al; 
ready seen what abominable cruelties the 
Indians suflered from the whites. We 
have seen them sold into West Indian 
Slavery, shot down like dogs in the street 
at noonday, hung on trees in Boston, and 
burned to death in their own wigwams. 
The souls of the slain cried for years for 
redress to that God who has said, " ven- 
geance is mine ;" nor did they cry in vain. 
As long as the helm of this universe is 
held by God, and not by the Devil, such 
villainies as we have related can never 
pass unpunished. 

" The hand that slew till it could slay no more. 
Was glued to the sword-hilt with Indian gore." 

But for every drop of Indian blood shed 
by the early s'Jttlers, the sons of those 
settlers were compelled to make full and 
fearful expiation. The record that was 
written in blood was wiped out in blood. 
Driven from the valley of the Meirimack, 
and from the other river-bottoms of Mas- 
sachusetts, the red sous of the forest found 
refuge in the trackless wilds of Canada 
and Maine, and infused their own thirst 
for revenge into the tribes whom they 
joined. Sallying forth from these far-off 
forest homes, their war-whoop reverber- 
ated through the colonies for seventy 
years, and kept the people of the fron- 
tiers in continual consternation. Scarce- 



ly a week passed without witnessing scenes 
of blood and cruelty, the mere recital of 
which shocks the feelings, and makes 
the Hesh creep with horror. Neither 
age nor sex was spared. The blood of 
the whites everywhere crimsoned the 
ground. The flames of burning dwellings 
reddened the midnight sky. The shrieks 
of captives, dying in excruciating tortures, 
echoed from every mountain-top ; and 
the whole body of the colonists, like Mac- 
beth in the tragedy, " supped full of hor- 
rors." Those in this region, though liv- 
ing at the time in garrisons, were not 
spared their share of these troubles, more 
especially during Queen Anne's War, 
which lasted from 1703 to 1713,— as the 
histories of Chelmsford and Dunstable, 
by Allen and Fox, abundantly attest. 
From the beginning of King Phillip's War 
to the close of Queen Anne's War, that is, 
from 1675 to 1714, the colonies of Massa- 
chusetts and New Hampshire alone lost 
not less than six thousand of their male 
population.* These troubles did not whol- 
ly cease till the fall of Quebec before the 
arms of the heroic Wolfe, and the final 
conquest of Canada. 

CONCLUSION. 

But it is time these retrospections were 
ended. Though some of them must shock 
our sense of justice, others of them bring 
the satisfying assurance that there is a law 
of compensation traceable through history, 
and that, as Tennyson beautifully says, — 

"All the while the whirligig of Time 
Is bringing its revenges. 

Our narrative has unfolded many facts 
calculated to live in the memory, and im- 
part new attractions to the region in 
which our lot is cast. No part of the 
earth's service is more worthy of study, 
for us, than that on which we live. No 
part can boast a history more replete with 
the elements of poetry and romance. 



» For a picture, drawn by a master hand, of the 
condition of the fiontiers during this period, see Ban- 
croft's History, vol. 2, p. 102. 



24 



What Lowell now is, — what her industry 
is, — what she has done for the advance- 
ment of the mechanic arts, — what she has 
contributed to the comfort and well-being 
of civilized mankind, — what her citizens 
have done, and are now doing, for the 
preservation of the unity and nationality 
of America, — the world well knows. If 
this narrative has not wholly failed of its 
object, it has shown that there are Indian 
and Pioneer memories associated with this 
region, not unworthy to be remembered 
in connection with more recent events.f 



t For information in relation to Lowell, Bee Cow- 
ley's HlBtory of Lowell ; Appleton's Origin of Low- 



Well and truly does one of our Merrimack 
Valley poets say — 

" Had Homer, 'stead of Argos' classic strand, 
Claimed this fair valley as his native land, 
How would uhese scenes have swarmed with noble . 

men ; 
How buried heroes would have lived again I 
Each lofty mountain, and each woody hill. 
Each winding stream, and gently flowing rill, 
Each rook and dell along this river shore, 
In flowing verse would live lorevermore." t 

ell ; Miles' Lowell as it was and as it is ; Whittier's 
Straneer in Lowell ; Francis' Lowell Hydraulic Ex- 
periments; Watson's Hand-Book for ihe Visitor to 
Lowell ; Scoresby's American Factorijs and their Fe- 
malo Operatives ; Montgomery's History of the Cot- 
ton manufacture in America; Everett's Memoir of 
John Lowell ; Lowell's Memoir of Patrick T. Jack- 
son ; Edson's, ot Warren Colburn ; Huntington's, of 
Elisha Bartlett, etc. 

I William Stark's Manchester, N. H., Centennial 
Poem (1851), in Potter's Manchester, p. 30. 



NOTICES OP THE PRESS. 

In this well written and readable pamphlet we have another tribute to " the poor Indian ',' of 
by-gone days, who once flourished on the banks of our goodly river, by Charles Cowley, Esq., the 
Lowell historian. In reading it, we forget that we are inhabiting theCity of Spindles, and begin 
to wonder what sort of an appearance what is now called Lowell assunied, two hundred years ago. 
Mr. Cowley seems to be well posted in the history of the Merrimack river. He is well read in the 
adventures of the Sieur de Champlain, who was the first European whose eyes were gladdened 
by the waters of the Merrimack. One cannot read the details of cruelty, (to the Indians) unfolded 
in Mr. Cowley's essay, without a touch of indignation. — Lowell Advertiser. 

Charl&s Cowley, Esq., of our city, has given much and patient attention to antiquarian re- 
searches. The early reminiscences here brought together occupy a wide space in our local history, 
and have onlj- been accessible, heretofore, to the few who are within reach of the records of aborigi- 
nal tnnes. We can but hope that Mr. Cowley will find a reasonable requital for his creditable 
work. — Lowell Citizen tf News. 

His terse stj'le and poetic comparisons, as he introduces the "lords of the forest" in contrast 
with the "lords of the loom," the wigwams of the natives, their gewgaws and social ties, their 
governments and attachments — in contradistinction to our present state of society — our modern- 
ized and civilized characteristics — all combine to invest his work with peculiar interest. In 
addition to much realh^ important information, and many interesting incidents, there is much 
suggested that does not appear on the surface, affording food for thought to the reflecting mind. 
In the character, conduct, position, and treatment of the Christian Indians, during King Fhillip's 
War, in 1675-6, so graphicallv described by the writer, we think we can discern much that is 
analogous to the character, conduct, position, and treatment of the contraband negroes of the 
present da}'. King Phillip's War, in 1675, is treated at some length, and with great ability, after 
which, the gentle Wannalancet is introduced; but we are unable, in a short newspaper notice, to 
point out half the excellences of tJiis little work. — Lowell Vox PojmU. 

The author has rescued and preserved much, which otherwise, it may be feared, would have 
passed into oblivion. A succinct and well digested account of the tribe of Indians formerly occupy- 
ing Lowell and the surrounding region is given, with an excellent delineation and portraiture of 
their principal chief The history of the first white settlers is also interwoven with the narrative, 
so as to complete the graphic picture. The foot notes are valuable, and the citations of authorities 
ample. The reflections arising from the subject are, in the main, just, accurate, and discriminat- 
ing, evincing good taste and careful judgment. It exhibits much research, a patient attention to 
details, a careful adherence to accuracy, and a proper adaptation and elucidation of the several 
parts of the subject. The whole combines, in an entertaining and instructive narrative, many 
valuable facts not otherwise easily accessible, and is of permanent value. — Lowell Courier. 

The work is really the historj' of Lowell before Lowell M-as, and shows how much of interesting 
matter there is to be told of that important section of country ere cotton had been ginned at the 
South, or cottons manutactured at the North. We are glad to see that Mr. Cowley does justice to 
the Indians, a x-ace vilely used by the whites, who generally libel tliose whom they trample upon or 
destroy. Often rising to eloquence, just in its opinions, and abounding with facts not easily to be 
obtained, Mr. Cowley's pamphlet deserves high praise; and we should think it miglit be usefully 
extended into a larger and more elaborate work. — Boston Traveller. 

He has taken great pains to look up his authorities, and has thus brought much matter which is 
both interesting and useful, within the compass of twent3--four pages. We regret to sav that a 
perusal of the narrative does not tend to elevate our conceptions of the mode of treatment finally 
administered to tlie_ Indians by our ancestors. It is a chapter in our histoiy painful to dwell 
upon. — Boston Courier. 

We have here, compressed in a few pages, a complete history, as far as known, of a people ex- 
tending through more than a century. While it is pleasant to gather up the memorials of these 
pioneer settlers in our land, it is sad to think how suddenly these "red men" have nearly' all 
disappeared Irora the earth, and that, too, occasioned in part by the wrongs inflicted upon them by 
the " white man." — Boston Conf/regationalist. 

It contains many facts concerning the early settlement of that region by the colonists, and, as 
an historical sketch of the Indians and Pioneers of Lowell, will doubtless be of both interest and 
value. — Boston Commercial Bulletin. 

Citizens and former residents of Lowell, as' well as all who live in the beautiful valley of the 
Merrimack, will find it very interesting. None can read th's glowing address without feeling ever 
after a warmer, deeper, and closer attachment to the place where the events which it recites took 
place. — Lawrence Journal. 

The narrative is comprehensive and instructive, and is enriched by many facts and incidents, 
the result of careful research and inquiry. The sketches of the personal historj^ of the leadmg 
Indians, are vividly delineated. We observe throughout a clearness and symmetry of stylfe which 
renders this valuable contribution to colonial history of additional worth. — Dedhavi Gazette. 

This work, though of special interest to the dwellers in those parts where the scenes and incidents 
so graphically described were enacted, can be scarcelj-^ less interesting to the antiquary and the 
student of our country's histr)ry, everywhere. We have a rich finid of information, gleaned with 
much patient industry from documents never yet, we believe, made public, or from works published 
but rare and little known. The narrative is well worth a careful perusal, and we cordially com- 
mend it to all who feel any interest in the history of the early settlements of our country. And we 
would here express the hope, shared by many who have read this pamphlet, that the author a 
gentleman who, in the practice of his profession of the law, and formerly as editor of the most 
influential journal published in Lowell, has already displayed those intellectual qualities which "o 
to make the acceptable historian, might be induced to give this subject in a more enlarri-ed and 
permanent form. — New York Protestant. ° 



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